SUMMARY

Role

Director

Intention (SMART Goal)

By January 28th, as part of Team 1 of my film class, I will have studied Cinematic Storytelling by Jennifer Van Sijll to be able to effectively and purposefully use light and darkness to aid in the storytelling of my team’s film for this month.

PRE-PRODUCTION – INQUIRY

Leader(s) in the Field / Exemplary Work(s)

Bong Joon Ho

Training Source(s)

Cinematic Storytelling by Jennifer Van Sijll

Project Timeline

• Week 1 (January 10 to January 14): PRE-PRODUCTION
  • Create rough storyboard
  • Choose filming location
  • Take test shots at filming location
  • Revise storyboard
  • Write script
• Week 2 (January 18 to January 21): PRODUCTION
  • Shoot film
  • Upload video files into Google Drive folder
  • Organize and label files
• Week 3 (January 24 to January 28: POST-PRODUCTION
  • Make notes and choose takes to use
  • Edit film
  • Record ADR
• Week 4 (January 31 to February 1): FINAL WEEK
  • Export final film
  • Finish team slideshow
  • Present final film to class
  • Finish blog post

Proposed Budget

None

PRODUCTION – ACTION

The FILM Creation

Film

Skills Commentary

Slideshow

POST-PRODUCTION – REFLECTION

21st Century Skills

Ways of Thinking (Creativity, Innovation, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving)

For this production session, I was creative in how I chose to interpret and modify the original prompt given to me by my teacher. I was a critical thinker and a problem solver in how I helped my team adjust and improvise through the difficulties we ran into during production and post-production. When we couldn’t get our technology to work properly and couldn’t go to our teacher for help, we came up with alternative solutions to ensure we could come up with a complete project.

Ways of Working (Communication & Collaboration)

I was a communicator in how I kept track of the individual tasks my team members were doing while also making sure they had everything they needed to complete their roles. I was a collaborator in how I shared ideas with my cinematographer and editor in order to reach our common goal of effectively telling a story through our film.

Tools for Working (Info & Media Literacy)

I collected information from training resources such as Cinematic Storytelling by Jennifer Van Sijll and my teacher’s expertise to help me advance my film knowledge and incorporate new techniques into this production.

Ways of Living in the World (Life & Career)

Through this production session, I developed better problem-solving and time-managing skills which will be useful for me in my life and career. My team and I also made sure to stay as organized as possible to make our production process flow smoother.

Reactions to the Final Version

“The concept of this film is creative and well-done” – Peter

“There was a lot of organization in the process of making this film.” – Josie

“The difference in sound quality for the voiceover at the end helps to sell the genre portrayed.” – Bree

Self-Evaluation of Final Version

I was excited about the concept of this project and had a lot of ideas going in, but a lot of them ended up not working out the way I wanted. My team and I tried a lot of new things during this production session which is great, but the end product of our efforts was not the best. We tried doing ADR for this film because we could not get a mic set up while filming on set but we had a lot of technical issues and couldn’t figure out how to properly use equipment since our teacher was gone during the post-production week. For editing, we also tried using Premiere Pro for the first time which was frustrating since the program was so complicated. However, I’m proud of my team for struggling through it and being great problem-solvers. Despite all the difficulties, we managed to produce a complete film that met the basic goal and was able to share it with the class.

What I Learned and Problems I Solved

What I learned from this production session is that I shouldn’t expect things to go the way I want them to and should be prepared to adapt if problems arise. I also learned the value of taking aside time to learn how to use equipment and technology earlier on to avoid having to do so later when time is limited. Though this production session was frustrating, I’m glad I was with a group of great people who took the challenges in stride. I’m sure we’ve all learned a lot and I hope my team can use this experience to do better in the next production session.

Grammar and Spelling

Grammarly

Editor

Micah

SUMMARY

Role: Director

As the director, the original idea of the film was my own. I gave directions to my team members on what work should be done each day of class and considered suggestions given for how the story or filming process could be improved. As the director, I had the final say on any decisions taken during production and I was also the one who led the presentation of our film and slideshow to the class.

Intention (SMART Goal):

Help my team fulfill their roles with minimal struggle

PRE-PRODUCTION – INQUIRY

Leader(s) in the Field / Exemplary Work(s)

Bong Joon Ho

Training Source(s)

Project Timeline

November 8 to November 29

Proposed Budget

None

PRODUCTION – ACTION

The (FILM Creation)

Film

Skills Commentary

Slideshow

POST-PRODUCTION – REFLECTION

21st Century Skills

Ways of Thinking (Creativity, Innovation, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving)

In this project, I showed creativity in how I planned out the classroom scene to make the class seem more full despite only having a few actors. I was innovative in how I collected the ambient sound for the classroom scene. I was a critical thinker when I looked over the footage during editing. I problem-solved by adjusting planned shots to fit the camera angles and placements we had to use while filming in the car.

Ways of Working (Communication & Collaboration)

I communicated and collaborated by giving specific directions to my team members while we were filming and checking in with them during pre/post-production.

Tools for Working (Info & Media Literacy)

I gathered information from my film teacher and the film analysis our class did the week before pre-production to learn how to be a better director and to be attentive to the way scenes are set up.

Ways of Living in the World (Life & Career)

As the director of this film, I became a better communicator and developed leadership skills. For this project, my team and I also placed importance on organization which helped us collaborate during the post-production phase.

Reactions to the Final Version

“The story of this film is relatable to our age group.” – Evan

“The adaption from the original idea on paper to the film production was well-done.” – Josie

“The transition from the classroom to the car could be better done to fit the comedy genre.” – Bree

Self-Evaluation of Final Version

The final version of my film turned out to be very short with a simple story. I think we did a good job of cutting our ideas down to the bare essentials and not adding anything unnecessary to the film. We kept the mood of the story light and made use of audio to add to the storytelling. I do agree with the criticism I received on transitions between settings being not as smooth as they could be, but for the current level of experience in film-making my team and I are at, I am happy with our project.

What I Learned and Problems I Solved

During this project, I learned how to better communicate my ideas out loud and work in a group setting. I also learned the importance of time management and now have a better frame of reference for how long it takes to shoot a short film. This experience has forced me to get out of my comfort zone a bit to take lead in a group. There were a few issues in the production process, but they proved to be valuable in teaching me not to expect perfection and be flexible in my decision-making.

Grammar and Spelling

The tool used to check for grammar and spelling was Grammarly.

Editor

Josh